Northern State men finish 20th, women, 22nd

Northern State men finish 20th, women, 22nd

September 30, 2007

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Canadian and University of South Dakota runners won the Division II titles at the 22nd annual University of Minnesota Roy Griak Invitational Saturday at the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Minneapolis. Kristjan Hunter of Manitoba won the men's 8,000-meter race in 25 minutes, 26.4 seconds. Northern State's top finisher was junior Danny Scott (Watertown) who placed 72nd out of 257 runners with a time of 27:36. Mankato won the team title with 110 points while the Wolves were 20th with 538 points. Yankton native and USD sophomore Ramsey Kavan won the women's 6,000-meter race in 22:08.1. NSU's top finisher was freshman Kari Linnemann (Volga) who placed 97th out of 283 runners with a time of 25:18. Augustana won the team title with 69 points while the Wolves were 22nd with 655 points. Other NSU women finishers included senior Jenny Baus (25:30), freshman Toni Fritz (26:17), junior Danielle Nickolas (26:22), freshman Taryn West (27:48) and junior Valerie Moore (28:49). Other NSU men finishers included sophomore Josh Schmeichel (28:00), junior Matt Walberg (28:14), freshman Cole Lemke (28:24), freshman John Rawerts (29:07), freshman Sergio Fox (31:38) and sophomore Tim Baustian (31:40). NSU coach Shawn Wheelock was happy with his teams' performances in a big meet. He said his athletes as a whole ran a smart and solid race on a tough course that was a little softer and more hilly than what they were used to running on. “Our runners who had run this race before all improved their times from last year,” said Wheelock. “Tim improved his time by 90 seconds, Danny by 70 and Josh by 28. I was also happy with Jenny, who improved her time by 22 seconds. I didn't think she was even going to run yesterday (because of an injury), but she ran a very strong race today. Kari ran another strong race today and Taryn and Cole really stepped up too. I was pleased with the effort of all of our kids.” Wheelock said he and his team also learned a lot about their conference Saturday. “It is going to be a dogfight, but I think we are going to be in the thick of it. But our conference is definitely strong and very competitive. There are going to be some very good cross country teams that finish third and fourth at our conference meet (Oct. 20 at Winona).” Northern State will host the Roe Granger Invitational Friday at Lee Park Golf Course in Aberdeen. The women will run 5,000 meters at 3 p.m. and the men 8,000 meters at 3:30 p.m.